Phoebus High Going `Block'

Change To Double Length Of Class

HAMPTON — Phoebus High School officials intend to make major changes to the school schedule next year that will almost double the length of most class periods.

The school plans to adopt a "block schedule" that calls for students to take six classes that meet for 90-minute periods and one class that meets for 50-minute periods. The 90-minute classes would alternate so that students would take three on one day and the other three the next day. The 50-minute class would meet every day.

Currently, most Phoebus students take six to seven classes that meet every day for 50 minutes.

School officials will discuss the plan with the School Board tonight. The school doesn't need board approval, but Phoebus officials said they wanted to keep the board informed.

Brenda Fraser, a Phoebus English teacher who led a school committee that's been studying block scheduling for about a year, said the longer periods give teachers the time they need to run more effective classes.

For example, teachers are able to incorporate more lab work, computer work, independent research and group projects into their classes - all of which help students learn more than lectures alone, she said.

"There are fewer passive sessions where students just sit there and listen to the information," Fraser said. "The schedule promotes more active learning."

Students also will take more courses with the block schedule, she said. Currently, most students take six classes per year, but they'll take seven with the new schedule.

More faculty members won't be needed, she added, because enrollment is expected to rise only in elective classes, many of which now have relatively few students.

Block scheduling has strong support among the Phoebus faculty. In April, more than 80 percent of the 110 teachers voted in favor of the change, Fraser said.

Phoebus is not breaking new ground. Schools throughout the state have taken on some form of block scheduling in the last few years.

On and around the Peninsula, block schedules are used in Gloucester, Newport News, York County, Isle of Wight County, Mathews County and Williamsburg-James City County schools. Hampton's Bethel High School started using a block schedule this year.

Reactions have been mixed.

Some parents and teachers at schools with block scheduling have been unhappy with longer periods and classes that meet every other day.

For example, foreign language and math teachers have complained that students suffer because they aren't drilled every day in those subjects.

"Some teachers say you're missing that immersion," said Bernard Platt, chairman of the foreign language department at Phoebus. "Some teachers feel it has to be practiced every day."

But Platt, who served on the committee studying block scheduling, added that he and other foreign language teachers at the school are keeping open minds.

Critics at other schools say some unmotivated teachers haven't changed lesson plans to accommodate the longer period and simply lecture for 90 minutes instead of 50 minutes. That can be unproductive and unbearably boring for students, they say.

But most area schools report generally positive findings.

At Bethel, in its second year of block scheduling, Principal William Pearson said more than 24 percent of his students made the honor roll in the first semester this year. About 19 percent made honor roll in the first semester of the year before block scheduling was started.

Suspensions are also down, he said. In this year's first semester, 113 students were suspended. In the year before block scheduling was started, 186 students were suspended in the first semester.

He attributes better discipline to the fact that students change classes fewer times per day. That means less time in the halls, where trouble tends to begin, he said.

On Bethel surveys about block scheduling, 90 percent of teachers, 70 percent of students and 75 percent of parents said they are happy with the change, Pearson added.

Principal John Kilpatrick of Menchville High School in Newport News, which started block scheduling this year, said teachers at his school also have reacted positively.

"The faculty is extremely happy," he said.

Fraser said Phoebus teachers have had one training session to help them prepare for the change next year. Teachers also will have one 90-minute period every other day to plan goals for their classes and learn to work better within the new schedule.

She added that the committee, which included teachers, administrators and parents, studied block schedules used by about 40 different schools before arriving at the plan it will discuss with the School Board tonight.

MEETING TONIGHT

* The Hampton School Board will hear a report tonight on block scheduling at Phoebus High School. The meeting begins at 7:30 in the School Administrative Center, 1819 Nickerson Blvd. It will be televised on cable Channel 5.